Our Services

Administrative action

We have extensive experience in pursuing administrative action for the benefit of clients in IP matters, including representing clients before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, seeking documents through Federal Freedom of Information legislation and taking action under the Administration Decisions (Judicial Review) Act.

Trade Secrets

What are trade secrets and in what situation are they preferable to a patent?

A trade secret is information which is confidential to a business, and gives a business advantage. This information may include secret processes of manufacture, such as chemical formulae, or designs or special methods of construction and other information which is of a sufficiently high degree of confidentiality and value to warrant a business taking steps to keep it secret. These steps include confidentiality agreements, employee restraints and other such agreements that restrict the confidant from publicly disclosing the information.

The principle advantage of a trade secret, as opposed to patent protection, is that the information is not revealed to the public or your competitors, potentially forever. Should a confidant reveal the secret, you can sue them for breach of confidence and seek compensation.

The principle disadvantage of a trade secret is that neither the general public nor your competitor has an obligation of confidence. A competitor may reverse engineer your product and publicly exploit the trade secret. The information will no longer be protected in law as a trade secret (although you may have another remedy available, such as breach of copyright). Additionally, a person may independently arrive at the same idea and lodge a patent. Trade secrets are also difficult to maintain when there are large numbers of people, such as employees, made privy to the secret. Once the ‘cat is out of the bag’, there may no longer be an obligation of confidence on other confidants.

We have extensive experience in assisting companies to devise a strategy based their business model. For businesses that invent new products or methodologies and generate income by licensing their manufacture and distribution, patents generally provide the best protection and most competitive advantage. For boutique companies that gain a competitive advantage by improving products or methodologies in a mature market, trade secrets might be a preferable way to go.